Wednesday, 2 January 2013

Public in Coimbatore have little to cheer about the year gone by

Looking back at the past year, Coimbatoreans have little to
cheer about 2012 as most promises of development have remained mere promises
barring a few exceptions.

The year began in Coimbatore with protests and rallies
condemning long hours of power outages (approximately eight hours every day)
with industrial outftits, both big and small, coming out to the streets
demanding power.

With the arrival of South West monsoons, wind energy
provided some respite during summer months but the situation turned worse during
the second half of the year with the city reeling under 14 hour powercuts. As
we come to the end of the year, the industries out here are planning yet
another massive protest on January 9, 2013 and and are sending telegrams to the
power-ful people hoping for a better year ahead.

In many neighbourhoods, especiallyin and around Sai Baba
Colony, roads dug out for the Underground Drainage Scheme (UGD) scheme that has
been going on and on for several years now and has been mired in controversy,
still remain pot-holed and bumpy.

Road accidents and crimes have been on the rise while
traffic scenario across the city seems to have only worsened as thousands of
new vehicles are introduced every day without any major road expansion efforts.
The city police had come up with the Green Corridor Project of streamlining
traffic management on Avinashi Road but, thanks to power outages, it has been
only partialy effective. The second phase of the project to be implemented in
Mettupalayam Road is on the cards.

After a gap of few years, Swine Flu has returned to Kovai
and surrounding areas with a vengance claiming atleast a dozen lives this year
while the number of patients who are testing positive for dengue continue to be
on the rise. Corporation and health authorities have taken several measures to
minimize the spread of the virus, but their strategy of not disclsoing actual
numbers of victims to media seems to have been more successful than the rest.

On a positive note, the year saw justice delivered in the
sensational Muskan – Rithik murder case with the only remaining accused
Manoharan convicted of the heinous crime. The Mettupalayam Road connecting the city with
Ooty has finally become motorable and a pleasant drive for the most part, and
the entertaintment starved youth of the city now have one more mall, the Fun
Republic, to seek refuge in.